The present invention refers to a breast prosthesis to be worn on the body of a person who has had a mastectomy, and in particular to a breast prosthesis of a type having a soft elastic prosthetic body comprised of two plastic sheets connected to each other along a common edge and a plastic mass enclosed hollow-free between the plastic sheets, with the prosthetic body having a front side resembling in its form the natural breast and a rear side which faces a wearer's body, and a fabric member which spans the rear side and is attached to the prosthetic body. The present invention further relates to a method for making a breast prosthesis.
German publication DE-OS 28 27 077 discloses a breast prosthesis of this type, with the plastic sheet that is arranged on the rear side of the prosthetic body being coated with a fabric member in form of a textile, knitted fabric or web. The fabric member is made of cotton material which is sweat-absorbing, with the fabric member and the plastic sheet being joined together coextensively over their entire area. Thus, no hollow is formed between the plastic sheet and the fabric member through which moisture absorbed by the fabric member could exit. At prolonged sweat absorption, the fabric member becomes increasingly moist so that the prosthesis will stick or cling to the wearer's skin and will cause uncomfort for the wearer of the prosthesis because of evaporative cooling which leaves an unpleasant cold feeling on the wearer's skin.
These drawbacks which result from coating the one plastic sheet arranged on the rear side of the prosthetic body with a fabric member are not encountered when loosely disposing the prosthesis within a completely surrounding fabric pocket, as known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,464. This prosthesis has a rear side which forms a depression, and a cushion body which follows the contour of the rear side of the prosthetic body and is detachably held in the depression by the fabric pocket which surrounds the prosthetic body on the front side. The fabric pocket is made of elastic cotton material, with the section of the fabric pocket forming the rear side thereof bearing on the wearer's skin to enable absorbed sweat to be carried off into the depression and to eliminate the formation of a moisture accumulation in this fabric section. The transport of moisture from the fabric section is further enhanced by the pump effect created through the relative movement between the prosthetic body and the fabric section. Still, the provision of a fabric pocket of this type has drawbacks because the costs for manufacturing such a fabric pocket are comparably high and the prosthesis shifts and becomes displaced relative to the fabric pocket during wearing.